By Darcie Arahill Contributing Writer
Summertime fishing is in full swing here in sunny South Florida! Prevailing southeast winds, typically light in July, and water temps in the 80’s will be the norm for the next several months. Dolphin aka mahi mahi have been seen in good numbers but expect their size and numbers to dwindle during the summer. Your best bet to catch some delicious mahi will be to run out looking for those weedlines and other debris. I have had the most success lately just drifting with the flotsam, tossing out dead bait chunks, and sending a live bait down deep. July also means a lot of bonito, kingfish, and sharks should be in our waters. You can find sails, kingfish, bonito, sharks, and maybe some mahi anywhere in depths from 80’ to 300’ all along our coast. If it’s one of those typical hot & flat days, try trolling to cover more ground and excite the fish to bite. When you are bottom fishing, try using live bait to eliminate a lot of the “by-catch.” The blackfin tuna bite has been especially good the last couple months, especially on the kite or if you can live chum, with bigger than average fish for this area being caught regularly. Try fishing for tuna in the early morning and before sunset, they love to feed in low-light conditions.
Inshore and at the inlets, pilchards and sardines should be showing up more and it’s time for the snook spawn and tarpon to start showing up too. Tarpon have been seen and landed at the Palm Beach Inlet and I know that snook are being landed at the Jupiter Inlet, especially if you can get your hands on some live croakers. Snook spawn in areas where high current flow will carry their eggs during the new and full moons this time of the year through September. You will find the snook and tarpon congregating at the passes, bridges, and major sloughs with a fast moving current. These fish like small live baits such as pilchards, shrimp, pinfish, croakers, and live crabs. Keep in mind, these fish like conserving their energy. They only eat when eating is ‘easy’- often at night or on strong tide flows. Plan your trip according! Good luck and safe travels out on the water this month and be sure to shout or say “hello” if you see me fishing…follow your dream!
Ask me questions about fishing & see my recent FISHING VIDEOS on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/darcizzleoffshore